Longtime Trump Buddy Bill O’Reilly Sees Nothing Wrong With ‘Morning Joe’ Hot Mic Moment
MSNBC and Morning Joe co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough have been in damage control mode past week over criticism regarding their chummy relationship with GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump. While the network defended the duo after it was revealed that they spent time in Trump’s hotel room watching the New Hampshire primary results, it remains to be seen how they handle the hosts’ hot mic moment with Trump during last week’s town hall/Donald Trump infomercial. (On Monday evening, Brzezinski told Huffington Post that she didn’t bend to Trump’s will regarding questions.)
While the softball nature of the event, combined with the leaked audio of Joe and Mika praising Trump and the former reality TV star dictating questions to the so-called moderators, has reinforced the notion many hold of the program being decidedly pro-Trump and providing him with positive coverage for access, Morning Joe has found at least one defender — Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.
During Tuesday night’s broadcast of The O’Reilly Factor, the former Inside Edition host and longtime buddy of Trump dedicated his Talking Points segment to favorable media coverage of Presidential candidates. He mentioned Morning Joe’s off-camera moments with Trump and said that he found no problem with them. Why? Well, he’s had the same types of moments with Mr. Trump. In Papa Bear’s mind, he hasn’t given his friend any breaks and has only been tough and fair with him.
Yep. While Bill-O talked tough at the end of his little monologue, suggesting that political commentators who hold similar views with candidates and politicians should still steer clear of exchanging coverage for access and favors, he doesn’t see anything remotely wrong with friendly relationships between media personalities and the people they cover. It’s totally fine for the media to be buddy-buddy with lawmakers, campaign staff, politicians and what have you. That’s just the nature of the game.
And this is the fucking problem we have with the so-called news media. It has nothing to do with journalism. Nothing to do with informing the public. It is just infotainment. One big ass reality show, complete with the latest narrative. Reporters, anchors, hosts, pundits, Congressmen, Governors, wannabe Presidents, pollsters…all just part of the cast. Which reminds me, don’t forget to catch Mika’s interview with Donald’s wife Melania on Wednesday morning. It’s sure to be groundbreaking!
Below is video of the segment, courtesy of Media Matters:
